Reflect some of the ways that you want to assess your students, i.e. monitor whether they are understanding what you're teaching.
Describe your (or your CT's) grading policy, i.e. how you will assign scores to represent performance. Explain why you are using this method. If you are continuing your CT's grading policy, explain what you feel are some of its strengths and weaknesses.
I feel that as a future teacher I need to start assessing my students in a variety of different ways. Allowing them time to ask questions in between discussion topics is a great way to see what my students are understanding and what they are having trouble with. I believe that reinforcement and study guides that go along with the chapters are also great ways to assess whether students are making connections between information. Reinforcement & Study Guides allow students a chance to recall the "important" concepts that were taught and then apply what they learned to solve open-ended, short answer, fill in the blank, T/F, and/or multiple choice questions. Giving your students the opportunity to complete these worksheets and then going over them as a class (or collecting them at the end of the period) you can see which students are struggling to understand information. What I have learned through my observations is that you can't leave any one student that is confused behind, you need to stop and take the time to go over the material until they get it. If you continue with your lesson that student will just fall further and further behind, until eventually he/she just gives up and stops trying all together.
My CT has told me that she likes to have ATLEAST 25 different types of assessments per quarter, including HW, tests, labs, etc. Grades are always confidential and she runs a very open classroom where students are encouraged to ask questions on why they received less credit for an assignment or assessment then they thought. Late HW is counted as a 0 in her gradebook, however, if by the end of the marking period a student is close to a higher grade she will give them the points for the late assignments in order for them to earn the higher grade. This is only if they MAKE-UP the work! If students do not make up the work it remains a 0. I believe that there are a lot of strengths to my CT's grading policy, one of which is that it gives the students a chance to make up their work and also get credit for doing so. One weakness that I think this also brings is that students ONLY get credit for their made up assignments if it were to "bump them up" to a higher grade. So if a student is not "on the border" of getting a higher grade, its like they made their work up for nothing (which is not only annoying, but tedious for students).
Journal Entry: Assessment and Grading
Name: Mickey EnnisI feel that as a future teacher I need to start assessing my students in a variety of different ways. Allowing them time to ask questions in between discussion topics is a great way to see what my students are understanding and what they are having trouble with. I believe that reinforcement and study guides that go along with the chapters are also great ways to assess whether students are making connections between information. Reinforcement & Study Guides allow students a chance to recall the "important" concepts that were taught and then apply what they learned to solve open-ended, short answer, fill in the blank, T/F, and/or multiple choice questions. Giving your students the opportunity to complete these worksheets and then going over them as a class (or collecting them at the end of the period) you can see which students are struggling to understand information. What I have learned through my observations is that you can't leave any one student that is confused behind, you need to stop and take the time to go over the material until they get it. If you continue with your lesson that student will just fall further and further behind, until eventually he/she just gives up and stops trying all together.
My CT has told me that she likes to have ATLEAST 25 different types of assessments per quarter, including HW, tests, labs, etc. Grades are always confidential and she runs a very open classroom where students are encouraged to ask questions on why they received less credit for an assignment or assessment then they thought. Late HW is counted as a 0 in her gradebook, however, if by the end of the marking period a student is close to a higher grade she will give them the points for the late assignments in order for them to earn the higher grade. This is only if they MAKE-UP the work! If students do not make up the work it remains a 0. I believe that there are a lot of strengths to my CT's grading policy, one of which is that it gives the students a chance to make up their work and also get credit for doing so. One weakness that I think this also brings is that students ONLY get credit for their made up assignments if it were to "bump them up" to a higher grade. So if a student is not "on the border" of getting a higher grade, its like they made their work up for nothing (which is not only annoying, but tedious for students).